Paper-clip



(No ModeL) I. W. HEYSINGER.

PAPER CLIP.

No. 327,558. Patented Oct. 6, 1885.

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STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ISAAC W. HEYSINGER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PAPER-CLIP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 327,553, dated October 6, 1885.

Serial No.162,178. (N0 model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAAC W. HEYSINGER, of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have made a certain new and useful Improvement in Paper,

Letter, and other Clips, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a rear perspective view of one of my paper or letter clips constructed with an enlarged tablet or board, so as to adapt the device to be used on a writing-desk for holding sheets of letter-paper preparatory to writing upon them, 850. Fig. 2 shows in plan View from above the device with a metal base for use as an ordinary paper-clip. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of Fig. 2, taken along the middle line from front to rear. Fig. 4 shows an inversion of the spring and its supports, (as shown in Fig. 1,) the spring also being differently placed. Fig. 5 shows one of the flanged ends of the skeleton frame of Fig. 1, (intended to limit the advance of papers when inserted betweenthe jaws, so as to secure evenness thereof,) and clearly shows also the construction of the point which is indented into the tablet or board beneath to prevent the papers from slipping under the flanged gage or stop; and Fig. (3 is a rear elevation, partly in section, to show the operation of the coacting parts of the device, the spring, pins, sockets, supports,

The lettering in all the figures is uniform.

My invention in some of its features is an improvement upon the clinching-clip which forms a part of my Letters Patent of the United States No. 226,402, dated April 13, 1880, the modifications and changes being intended to render the device more useful and convenient as an ordinary paper or letter clip, and to enable it, as enlarged, expanded, and altered, to be more readily put together or taken apart, and with less expense than could otherwise be done.

By the means shown by me in the present invention I render the clamping-lever laterally self-adjusting, so that it will bind the papers at both sides, notwithstanding imperfect fitting or warping of the board, and I do this by the simplest means, without the necessity of tools for putting together or taking apart my clip and without any additional expense.

Referring to the drawings, my device consists of a base part, A, which may be entirely of metal, as in Figs. 2 and 3, or partially of wood or pasteboard, extending forward, as in Fig. 1, to form alarge writing board or tablet for holding a package of loose sheets of paper from which the sheets may be singly removed as written over by depressing the thumb-lever O at the rear of the lever-arm C, so as to raise the clamping-jaw O, which is pivoted to the base at 0 A and supported and held under tension by the flat spring B, resting at each end upon the shoulders a a, and impinging at its middle upon the heel or support A The spring B,which is a simple flat strip of tempered steel, is, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 6, laid transversely across the under side of the lever O and in rear of its bearings C C". It is raised from contact with the under surface of G by the posts or supports 0* Gflwhich are provided with terminal sockets a a, opening inward, and in which sockets the free ends of the spring B may rest securely when held up in place by the impingement of the support A against the middle of said spring. This support A is raised from the level of the base A in rear of the bearings A Aflas shown in Fig. 3, and the spring B, having its ends seated in the sockets a a" and its middle arched over the support A and resting upon it,will securely hold down the jaw G or return it to place, if raised by depressing the thumb lever 0 As shown in Fig. 8, the spring B does not lie horizontal from front to rear, but is upon a radial line having its center at the bearing 0* A, so that it may be placed upon any radial line having 0 A as a center, and it will work equally well,and will not slip in its sockets or slide during motion to and fro across the top of the support A The means for supporting the lever C are clearly shown in Fig. (i, and the relative position of the parts may be seen in Figs. 2 and 3. The top plate or lever, C, is cast or otherwise formed with an opening, (L in its middle part. This opening is provided with a contraction from opposite sides, and from these two contracted sides two pins project inward and opposite ach other, and preferably beneath the general level of 0. (See Fig. 6.)

The base A is provided with an elevation, A, in its middle part, hollow on its under side, to form bearings or journal-boxes opening downward, and narrowed in the rear below the summit of the elevation A and the journal-boxes A", to admit the pins 0 0 when presented from the rear. Upon this narrowed portion is the support A upon which the middle of the spring B impinges, and the opposite pins 0 C are passed alongside this narrow support A until directly beneath the expanded portion of A and the journal-boxes A A, when the lever G is lifted and the pins are seated in their bearings. The spring B is now placed with one end in one of the sockets a, and the middle is strongly bent up, and the opposite end bent down, when the middle will pass over the support A and the opposite end slip into its proper socket a, when the device will be put together and ready for use. By

reversing the process it will be taken apart.

No tools are requisite, nor is any fitting required, the castings as delivered from the foundry being all ready for use.

It will be readily seen that as the terminal spring-supports a a are outside the'lines of the construction enables the clip to be used withpin-bearings A A and the center springsupport, A lies between the lines of the said pin-bearings, (said lines being drawn from front to rear,) the top lever or its broad lip C may be rocked sidewise, and that it will balance back to equilibrium as soon as the side strain is taken off, or will adjust itself to any inequality of the baseboard A or unequal thickness of material between the jaws and on opposite sides of 0. As shown in Fig. 1, where a pencil is interposed at one side of the clamping-lip 0, this side will be raised from the base A, while the opposite side will still rest securely thereupon, or upon any paper placed between the jaws. In such case the points of support against the tension of the spring, instead of being at 0 0 will be at one of the bearings C only, the other being lifted out of its journal-box A by the twist at the opposite side produced by the interposition of the pencil. The other point of support will be thrown upon the spring-support A This out reference to the warping of the board A, or the irregularity of the base A, or the free edge of the clamping-lip 0. It also enables the clip to be used for holding papers of different thicknesses at opposite sides, or for interposing an eraser, a pencil, a bunch of envelopes, stamps, 850., at one side, while the clip is in use for holding a quantity of sheets of paper, and it also greatly cheapens the cost of construction, as, being self-adjusting, no fitting is required to make the lip Ofit accurately along its length upon the base A, which is a difficult and expensive thing to do in clips having a broad-faced clamping-lip, O. This broad-faced lip O is matched with and covers a similarly broad base, which projects slightly in front of the lip G, and is checked or roughened upon its upper surface to more securely hold papers, 85c.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 4 in dotted lines and in Fig. 3 in side elevation, I sometimes use a pin, D, upon which papers are impaled and held. As ordinarily used, such pins project through the clamping-lever, and are liable to injure the user. In my present invention I provide this pin D with a hood or cover, so that the entire pin, includingits point, is concealed and securely protected by a swell or hood upon the front part of the clamping-jaw, asshown in Fig. 3. While I sometimes raise this hood upon the top surface of the clampingjaw, I usually, for neatness and facility of finishing the top surface of G, prefer the form shown in Fig. 8, and likewise in Figs. 2 and 4:. The forward part of O is brought down sharply to the lip O in a bold curve, and two blades or ribs, 0 C are dropped down from the under side of this curve, which, with the front edge of the lip 0, form athreesided vertical channel closed at the top by the surface of theplate or lever C, so as to form a hood to protect the pin D and assist in forcing down the papers thereupon. The pin projects upward from the base-A, and lies in this vertical channel, its point extending up to' and nearly in contact with the under surface of O. The lower edges of theblades O 0", which are beveled off from front to rear, so as to lie upon the paper horizontally when the lever O is raised, and the part of G which joins them in front, together press the paper down upon the pin and prevent it from slipping aside or bending without puncturing. The swell of O to accommodate the pin may be of any height desired, and I sometimes use one pin and sometimes two or more. 1

.When I use the board A, as shown in Fig. 1, I form the base A in skeleton, so that the broad lip 0 shall come down in contact with the board A itself, the skeleton having lateral flanged guides A A against which the sheets of paper, when inserted from the front beneath the lip 0, shall engage, so as to limit their advance and secure even adjustment thereof; and in order to prevent the sheets of paper from slipping beneath the flanges A A I provide them with counter points or pins A A, projecting downward from A A and which I indent into the top surface of the board A, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5.

The skeleton frame of A, as shown in Fig. 1, also contains the mechanism of the bearings A C and the spring a a A B, and has extending to the rear a looped or slotted projection, A corresponding to those havingametal base, as shown in Fig. 2, whereby the device maybe suspended from a nail, andis also kept from tilting up when the thumb-lever G is depressed.

While I usually, for the reasons stated, insert my spring B transversely to thebase when the side space is narrow or the lip 0 does not require accurate adjustment upon the base A,

Isometirnes arrange itlongitudinally, as shown in Fig. 4, which is an inversion, so far as relates to the spring and its supports, of that form shown in Fig. 1, and in such case I use one broad flat spring or two parallel springs, as may be preferred. In such case, as the broad lip 0 requires the top lever, G, to be inserted from above, I provide the lever G with an elongated neck, upon which are placed the pins (3 G, and I form this neck so that it can be rotated when in the spring-slot of the base A, and provide it with a heel or support, A which bears against the spring B and compresses the jaw G A. To insert this I place the lever 0 over the base A, and pass the neck and pin and heel part otthe lever down through the spring-slot in the base at right angles thereto. I then turn the lever G in line with the base, and move the pins forward under their bearings A A, as shown in the other figures, and the top lever, 0, being lifted, will bring the pins 0 0 into their seats, and the spring pressed in and seated in the sockets a a and impinged upon by the support or heel A will unite the different parts for permanent use as a single device. In the form shown in Fig. 6, also, I sometimes invert the arrangement of the pins O"()" and their journal-boxes A A, and otherwise vary the construction to suit special requirements.

Having now described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1. A spring paper or other clip consisting of the opposite clamping-jaws A and 0, provided with the detachably-pivoted bearing 0 A the spring-supporting sockets a a the transverse spring B, supported at its opposite ends in the said sockets a a and the heel or support A*, impinging,under pressure,against the middle of said spring, the whole constructed to operate substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. In a paperclip consisting of the base A, vibrating clamping-jaw 0, provided with jaw O, hood C and opposite thumb-lever C and spring 13, one or more pointed pins, D, projecting upwardly from the said base, and adapted to perforate and hold in place papers, &c., when forced down upon the said pins by the compression of the jaw 0, each of said pins 1) being covered and protected by the blades 0 or their equivalent, formed upon and integral with the said jaw C, substantially as described.

A paper-holding clip consisting of afixed jaw, adapted to rest, as a base, upon a table, and a centrally-pivoted vibrating upper jaw provided with a broad-faced clamping-lip at its forward extremity, and a thumb-lever at its rear, together with one or more fiat platesprings supported in terminal sockets at one end, attached to one jaw, and impinged upon at its center by a heel or support upon the opposite jaw, said spring or springs occupying a slot or space sufficiently large to permit the supportingpins of one jaw to be hooked into the open journal-boxes of the other, so that the whole shall be held firmly in place, and pressure applied to the clamping-j aw by the tension of the said spring, substantially as described.

4. A paper-holding clip consisting of afixed jaw, adapted to rest upon a table or be attached to a tablet or board, and a centrallypivoted vibrating spring clamping jaw attached thereto,supported by a pivoted bearing in one jaw seated in one or more open journalboxes in the other, and held in place by the upward pressure of a flat plate-spring supported at its ends in sockets upon onej aw, and impinged upon at its center by aheel or support upon the other jaw, the said spring eX- tending transversely across the base, and having its terminal supports beyond the side lines of the said pivoted bearings of the clampingjaw, substantially as and for the purposes shown and described.

P. ODoNNELL, F. L. ROEPKE. 

